This paper estimates the impact of binge drinking on sexual activity among a nationally representative set of high school students during the 1990s and 2000s. The main innovations are explicitly controlling for time-invariant preferences regarding sexual behavior and alcohol use, and eliminating non-drinkers from the comparison group. I find that…

Needs of healthcare consumers continue to change and thus healthcare trends must adhere to these changes to enable better outcomes. Pregnant adolescents often have high pregnancy and post-pregnancy risks for themselves and their children, which create educational needs; therefore implementation of healthcare education must change to better meet…

Emergency contraception is most effective at preventing unintended pregnancy when taken as early as possible following unprotected sexual intercourse. Advance provision of this medication supports more timely and effective use. In the midst of rising teen pregnancy rates, current policies often limit access to emergency contraception for…

Intimacy can be a complex subject. However, holistic and healthy intimacy exists in many forms and can be achieved not only with a romantic other but also with one's friends, family, professional colleagues, and self. As part of lifespan development, it is ideal to build a knowledge base and skill set to comprehend the multiple facets of intimacy.…

Transgenerational effects of alcohol on mothers' and children's intellectual functioning has been examined in 22 families from very deprived environments. Their psychosocial outcomes and IQ level were evaluated in a follow-up study on average seven years after they left the support group of a day-care centre for young children; school data were…

Resilience refers to positive adaptation in the face of present or past adversity. It is the "ordinary magic" that rises from the minds of children and their families as they interact with their communities. Gonzales (2003) defined three major components of Resiliency Theory: (1) risk factors; (2) protective factors; and (3) developmental assets.…

Across cultures, approximately one third of people with drug dependence are women of child-bearing age. There is emerging evidence regarding the effectiveness of integrating pregnancy, parenting, and child development services with addiction services. In 2007, we conducted a national survey of addiction agencies serving women to provide…

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate a depression-focused treatment for smoking cessation in pregnant women versus a time and contact health education control. We hypothesized that the depression-focused treatment would lead to improved abstinence and reduced depressive symptoms among women with high levels of depressive…

This research was designed to increase our understanding of how the motivational antecedents to childbearing and emotional responses to pregnancy affect the subsequent attachment bond of a toddler to his or her mother. Using a sample of 1,364 mothers and their newborns from the Study of Early Child Care, we tested a mother-child influence…

Using a hazards framework and panel data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1979-2004), we analyze the fertility patterns of a recent cohort of white and black women in the United States. We examine how completed fertility varies by women's education, differentiating between intended and unintended births. We find that the education…

The authors evaluated empirical research addressing the relationship between induced abortion and women's mental health. Two issues were addressed: (a) the relative risks associated with abortion compared with the risks associated with its alternatives and (b) sources of variability in women's responses following abortion. This article reflects…

Pregnancy is a time of heightened risk for domestic violence and of increased vulnerability to traumatic events. In this article, the authors explain how the experience of domestic violence during pregnancy threatens the newborn's healthy development as well as the parent-child relationship. San Francisco General Hospital's Perinatal Child-Parent…

Becoming a parent after experiencing infertility can pose unique challenges to early parenthood. Parents may struggle with the normal anxiety and fatigue, as well as possible depression, that accompany new parenthood, but with added guilt or shame because of how much they wanted a child and how hard they worked to become parents. These feelings…

A fair number of parents-to-be expect parenthood to be the impetus for improving their couple relationship, but this expectation is likely to be disconfirmed for most of them. With a focus on childrearing attitudes, the author investigates the factors differentiating parents-to-be who have overly optimistic expectations about parenthood from those…

We aimed to examine whether exposure to prenatal stress following maternal bereavement is associated with an increased risk of febrile seizures. In a longitudinal population-based cohort study, we followed 1,431,175 children born in Denmark. A total of 34,777 children were born to women who lost a close relative during pregnancy or within 1 year…